Its time for us to talk about the 25th episode of the X-Files.
So begins Recent Alien Abductions, by Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas, which opened Sunday, as part of the Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival of New American Plays.
It is an extraordinary play. Cortiñas has crafted arguably the most intricately-detailed script to appear on a Humana bill in years. On the stage, under Les Waters clear, unaffected direction, its easily appreciated and digested by an audience in the moment. But I suspect that only repeated viewings (or an actual script in hand) would be necessary to fully appreciate the elegant rigor of the storytelling.
The speaker is a young Puerto Rican named Álvaro (Jon Norman Schneider), who proceeds to deliver an epic monologue that examines Little Green Men, the first episode of the series second season, in forensic detail.
Its the sort of monologue you might expect to hear on an episode of The Moth Radio Hour, full of details, digressions, laugh lines and hints that perhaps were not dealing with a fully-reliable narrator. At a guess, Id say the opening monologue runs more than 15 minutes and its interest never flags. Álvaro recounts the plot which plays out in Puerto Rico. He reveals his astonishment that the main Puerto Rican character a young man befriended by Fox Mulder shares his own given name. He reveals sloppy lapses in the programs portrayal of Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans, and takes time to discuss the Puerto Rican independence movement. Time after time, he stops to pose questions that hint of a complex conspiracy.
Schneiders performance is quietly riveting. Hes like a nervous child whistling in the dark, his eyes darting side to side. But despite or perhaps because of his tics, theres an eerie conviction to his tale.
As he parses the episode, he also reveals aspects of his family life. And we learn that his older brother Néstor, after watching but a single episode of the X-Files, declared that Mulder and Scully would never connect romantically because, People only fall in love with those they dont trust.
As we come to learn, if Néstors maxim is true, Álvaro should love pretty much everyone and perhaps everyone should love Álvaro.
The action leaps forward 23 years to a bright home in present-day Puerto Rico (its intricacies cunningly designed by Dane Laffrey). Patria (Ronete Levenson), a stern-looking, young woman, has come to negotiate with Álvaros family for permission to publish a collection of his stories, most of which, it seems, blend sci-fi analyses with stories and revelations about the family. Patrias quest faces obdurate objections from Néstor (Bobby Plasencia), a rage-prone man in search of a pit bull bred for dogfighting.
Néstors wife Ana (Eli Monte-Brown) is a marginalized woman in a macho household but shes far more clever than her simmering husband. Néstor and Álvaros mother Olga (Mia Katigbak) is on the cusp of dementia. But whether lucid or not, Olga spends most of her time querulously proclaiming that something perhaps her incontinence, perhaps something deeper is not her fault.
And there is long-time family friend Beba (Carmen M. Herlihy). She is Patrias only ally in the battle over publication and more importantly, after a stylized but chilling battle between Néstor and Patria (fight choreography by Ryan Bourque), she holds the key to understanding Álvaro and his family.
And as she unlocks that door, Álvaro returns to the foot of the stage. Behind him, his family home is bathed in a surreal light (lighting design by Brian H. Scott), and we hear a spaceship-like hum (sound design by Christian Frederickson) as he interacts always in third person with his alien mother and alien brother (costume design by Jessica Pabst). The scene is a dark revelation that untangles the knotty weave of Álvaros narrative.
A Doll House
George Bernard Shaw wrote that the typical Ibsen play is one in which the leading lady is an unwomanly woman and the villain, an idealist. From Shaw, that was praise. He admired Henrik Ibsens revolutionary spirit.But Shaw was the exception. In 1879, when it premiered, there was enormous hostility to Ibsens A Doll House and its depiction of a woman so determined to pursue her independent destiny, that shes willing to leave her husband and children. Actresses refused to play the womans role. Theaters refused to mount productions of the play.
In response, Ibsen wrote an alternative happy ending. The Chamber Theatres program note for its production of Henrik Ibsens A Dolls House says that the plays U.S. premiere took place in Louisville in 1883. That production (with the alternative ending) ran under the title Thora and featured the international star Helene Modjeska in the role better known as Nora.
A Dolls House was a radical play in 1879. And its a radical play now. Ibsen himself, and some critics over the years, have asserted that the play was not about womens rights but about human liberty. Be that as it may, it is indisputable that in this century, ones liberty and choices are still profoundly affected by gender. Indeed, the backlash against womens liberties is especially strong at this moment.
The Chamber Theatres production at Vault1031 (with a text translated by William Archer and adapted, and directed, by Martin French) is brisk, clear and convincing. Polina Shafrans sharply-drawn portrayal of Nora reveals the ironies that undermine the infantilizing treatment she receives from her husband Torvald (Brian Hinds). Ibsens generous compassion eventually surfaces in Gerry Roses approach to the sinister Krogstad. Beth Tantanellas Mrs. Linde is a resourceful modern woman. Joe Monroe is a delight as Noras would-be admirer Dr. Rank. And Jay Marie Padilla, who is showing up in all sorts of acting and directing roles, brings a satisfying sense of purpose to the role of Maria. Costumes by Carol Dines and the clever minimalist set design (uncredited) are well-suited to the production. On Thursday, March 23, after the show, a group of area attorneys will conduct a mock trial of Nora.